One of the greatest compliance risks businesses face today is the wild field of communication. Communication is still taking place with old technology, like email. We saw from this year’s election how easy it is to hack email and leak it, especially when the email is not under your control anymore.

As the workforce becomes increasingly mobile and employees rely on texting for quick, easy communication, organizations across industries have been driven to create policies that guide how the information created by mobile text messaging is managed. These frameworks help to effectively support recordkeeping, answer compliance needs and ensure data availability for eDiscovery. Information governance is one such accepted discipline, ensuring a reasonable level of security for records and information that require protection.

The ARMA Information Governance Principles are very relevant to today’s world of mobile communications. There are 8 of them all together, and in this blog series we will discuss 7 of them in great detail. In our last blog we discussed the principles of integrity and transparency.

People engage in conversations over phones in public areas without a thought to who can overhear, or about the potential consequences. There is a blind faith that privacy is somehow granted by being surrounded by strangers. That privacy is often valid, however strangers don’t always equal safety.

Today’s mobile lawyers travel constantly, all over the country and world. Many travel to areas known to be less secure and even aggressive when it comes to cyber surveillance. Rightfully so, lawyers and their clients worry about the security of devices and communication methods while traveling abroad, however still require a high standard of responsiveness.

The ARMA Information Governance Principles are very relevant to today’s world of mobile communications. There are 8 of them all together, and in this blog series we will discuss 7 of them in great detail. We will not touch on the principle of Accountability, as having an accountable executive is necessary to the success of any endeavor, not just mobility and mobile messaging. I would like to start this installment with the Principle of Protection.

As I look back on the year, I can’t help but marvel on the incredible ups and downs that it has brought with it. Although there are many to speak of, both personally and professionally for most of us, cyber security has been front and center throughout 2015 and has become an increasingly prominent topic among companies, families and individuals.

Although an unfortunate reality in the world we now live in, I see the increased interest in cyber security and information security as something extremely positive for our country and all businesses alike. As with many forms of safety, cyber security has developed and grown as a result of incredible technological progress. We have seen firsthand how technology has and continues to improve lives—from smart household gadgets, to healthcare IT, to innovative ways that companies and organizations can now communicate. With great innovation, we also must consider changed behaviors and the impact on how we as human beings interact with each other For me, the increased focus on cyber security in 2015 has been indicative of the extent to which technology has progressed in the last year, how much progress is still yet to come .

At Vaporstream®, we continue to find ways to provide more secure environments to do business, protect sensitive information and communicate. I have been thrilled to see the Vaporstream team grow. I am proud of their talent and look forward to the opportunities ahead.

As we look towards 2016, I anticipate exciting new developments in the world of cyber security, information security, secure mobility and information governance. I wish you the best for 2016. Have an incredible holiday season with friends, family and colleagues. Have a healthy, happy, and peaceful new year!

Over 350 Billion text messages are sent each month, many of which contain sensitive personal and corporate information. Secure, encrypted messaging options are the best way to ensure security and compliance with regulations such as HIPAA, FINRA and Sarbanes-Oxley. IBM MobileFirst Protect formally known as MaaS360 has come together with Vaporstream® to address offering secure messaging.

On December 8th at 2PM EST Vaporstream and IBM MaaS360 will jointly present integrated solutions for enterprise mobility management. MaaS360 and Vaporstream provide a unique combination that enables organizations to easily deploy a secure and compliant messaging platform. Vaporstream has incorporated the MaaS360 API’s into our solution to enable an easy to deploy, utilize and maintain solution for mobile device management and policies that can be managed at the device and application level. These include features like pin code controls and single sign-on. By utilizing this integrated approach organizations can ensure that data is not left on insecure mobile devices. They can even extend that protection beyond the devices controlled by the organization to protecting and wiping messages sent to recipients outside the organization.

Ephemeral messaging technology allows users to send a mobile message with complete control and assurance that no residual information is saved on their mobile device. IBM MobileFirst is hosting Vaporstream, the creators of this new way to look at the old SMS, to learn best practices on taking secure messaging to the next level:

About the Speakers

Galina Datskovsky, Ph.D., CRM CEO Vaporstream

Galina Datskovsky is currently the CEO of Vaporstream. She has also served on the board of multiple startups, assisting with strategy. Formerly Vice President of Information Governance at Autonomy an HP Company. She served as Chair, President, President Elect and Director of ARMA International (2007-2013) as well as fellow in 2014. She also served as Senior Vice President of Architecture at CA Technologies, responsible for corporate-wide architecture and design initiatives, General Manager of the Information Governance Business Unit and a Distinguished Engineer. She joined CA in 2006 with the acquisition of MDY Group International, where she served as founder and CEO. Galina is a Certified Records Manager (CRM) and is recognized around the world as an expert in information governance and associated technologies.

She is the recipient of the prestigious Leahy award and a Fellow of ARMA International. She has been widely published in academic journals and speaks frequently for industry organizations such as AIIM, ARMA International, ILTA, IQPC and Cohasset Associates/MER. She received the NJBIZ: Best 50 Women in Business Award in April 2010. Prior to founding MDY, Galina consulted for IBM and Bell Labs and taught at the Fordham University Graduate School of Business and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University. She earned doctoral and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science from Columbia University.

Kaushik Srinivas Product Manager IBMKaushik Srinivas is a Product Manager for IBM MobileFirst Protect, formerly MaaS360. In this role, he is responsible for Mobile App Security, including the WorkPlace Partner Program and MaaS360 SDK & App Wrapping.

IBM MobileFirst Protect and Vaporstream experts will be on hand to discuss how you can integrate secure messaging into your overall Enterprise Mobility Management strategy.

We are seeing much discussion about encryption and encrypted communications in the news in the wake of the Paris attack. The intelligence community did not intercept the communication between the attackers leading up to the attack, and this leads many to believe that encrypted communications must have been used.

Last week the AIIM First in Flight North Carolina Chapter kicked off two key events that brought together members focused on raising money for two great charities and focusing on the topic of information governance (IG). The chapter meeting included two events, First in Flight Chapter Annual Charity Golf Tournament and InfoWorld 2015. Bentwinds Country Club hosted 80 golfers and Vaporstream was delighted to be a one of the hole sponsors. It was a wonderful day for golfing—the weather was perfect and the sky was a beautiful Carolina blue. The AIIM First in Flight Chapter golf outing donating over $6,000 to both the Fragile X and Juvenile Diabetes foundations!

AIIM’s InfoWorld 2015 proved to be very informative and well attended, with close to 200 in attendance. There were several excellent sessions on data analytics– which are quite timely in the Information governance community that is examining new ways of data mining with governance and compliance. Vaporstream® CEO, Galina Datskovsky, delivered the afternoon keynote which focused on Big Data, Data Lakes and a way to incorporate IG into the Big Data practices and equation.

The event highlighted the ways in which Information Governance practices are changing. With the explosion of data and the growth of the Internet of Things, Data Lakes, and data analytics, IG professionals face new challenges. They must be prepared for the difficult tasks of corralling end users’ data for compliance purposes in the age of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and socializing the information governance requirements for Data Lakes. Practitioners must also handle the tough task of ensuring the applications they implement are easy-to-use intuitive applications for employees. If easy-to-use applications are not provided, employees will continue to download noncompliant apps and use them to the detriment (and dismay) of Information Governance and IT Departments.

It is clear that secure collaboration, privacy, protection and business enablement at the forefront of everyone’s mind as they embark on IG initiatives. Vaporstream solves the secure mobile communication piece of this puzzle and is proud to be part of the offering and solution. Secure messaging assists organizations with equipping a mobile workforce with an approved way of collaborating and sharing text and images.